Will we see HDMI connections on Macs soon?

gdconway

Particularly mac minis? I'm planning my new home theater system. I'd like to use a mini with a large external hard drive and eyeHome hybird. That should cover digital movie and music storage as well as tv recording. Ideally, I'll have the system hooked up to a new plasma. Should I wait for an HDMI capable mini?



Which leads me to another question. Will movies ripped using Handrake and compressed to just under a gig look good on a 42-50 inch plasma? Would the HDMI connection matter? Or would DVI be just as good for this purpose? I don't need perfect movies, but I figure if I'm going to drop the money on the tv, I don't want to watch poor quality movies.



Does anyone have a mini hooked to a home theater that can offer any tips?

audiopollution

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdconway


Particularly mac minis? I'm planning my new home theater system. I'd like to use a mini with a large external hard drive and eyeHome hybird. That should cover digital movie and music storage as well as tv recording. Ideally, I'll have the system hooked up to a new plasma. Should I wait for an HDMI capable mini?



Which leads me to another question. Will movies ripped using Handrake and compressed to just under a gig look good on a 42-50 inch plasma? Would the HDMI connection matter? Or would DVI be just as good for this purpose? I don't need perfect movies, but I figure if I'm going to drop the money on the tv, I don't want to watch poor quality movies.



Does anyone have a mini hooked to a home theater that can offer any tips?

Although an HDMI connection on a Mac Mini makes sense, I doubt you'll see Apple offering that any time soon. They'll be busy pushing the iTV to you which does include an HDMI port.

macaddict16

HDMI is backwards compatible with DVI. You can buy an adapter to convert the cable. The only difference is that HDMI can also carry audio as well as the video.

From what I have seen using HDMI/DVI cables is that true HD sources and very high quality video sources look great using these connections, but lower quality sources actually look worse than when using component cables. When I had HD cable I first had it hooked up with HDMI and the HD was spectacular, but all of the non-HD channels looked really bad. I then switched to component cables and the HD was not quite as crisp and clear but the non-HD channels were 5x as clear.



Macaddict16

chucker

HDMI is just DVI + audio, so you can just use a converter.

macsuperiority

I think you should rip the movies at full quality if you want to watch them on a screen that big. Even on a 20 inch monitor they dont look to good at even 80% of original.

kuku

It's not Apple's decision.



It's the GPU makers.



Since HDMI has audio, the GFX card has to be able to pass that to the computer...



Other then that it's like a DVI.

chucker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuku


It's not Apple's decision.



It's the GPU makers.

Recent GPUs all support HDMI. If you mean the graphics cards (as opposed to the graphics chips), then that only applies to the Mac Pro, and only to the ATi cards of it, because the nVidia ones are from Apple.



So, yes, it's very much Apple's decision, in almost all cases.

Quote:

Since HDMI has audio, the GFX card has to be able to pass that to the computer...

I think you mean "pass from".

kuku

To my knowledge Sapphire is the only one who has an HDMI gfx card...and one model.



Asus has a prototype ready sometime soonish.



But that's a far cry from "resent".



You're looking at another year if any.



Traditionally apple never releases TV-out cards in BTO.



And HDMI is consider a tv-out port.



No computer device really carries HDMI, because they don't require audio, so DVI x2 is all that's needed.



Realistically asking for HDMI is like asking for a All-in-wonder model of the ATIs retails of days yore.



Heck I don't ever remember apple even BTO having S-video out. Only a converter or retail cards.



If anyone wants it, get an "iTV". It is suppose to have hdmi.

ecking

DVI is the same as hdmi without the audio so just use the mini's optical audio out.

gdconway

i guess i need to make sure i buy a tv w/ a dvi input. (i noticed the best buy day-after-thanksgiving $1700 toshiba 50" plasma that i was thinking about buying had no dvi input).



is everyone more or less in agreement that ripped movies should be at full quality to look good on a 42-50" tv?

vinea

While HDMI and DVI are convertable the real problem is HDCP. As of early this year no retail graphics card supported HDCP and since it required a HDCP chip (for at least the keys) it's not something you can do in software.



As far as I remember only specially made GeForce cards in Sony Media Center PCs have HDCP support. And I guess the Sapphire card that Kuku mentions.



It is my guess that Apple will include HDCP in iTV and depend on software encryption to the device to satisfy Hollywood. Not that HDCP hasn't aleady been broken by cypto folks...and for now Hollywood isn't requiring downrez in HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.



Vinea



PS No need to make sure your TV has DVI as there are HDMI to DVI cables. They are $14 from reputable online companies. The one I use is a sponsor of the AVSForums with a singular name. I don't recall the rules for links to vendors so PM me if you can't figure it out.

hmurchison

Apple's supporting Display Port which uses a subset of the HDMI protocol but lengthens the cable length and improves bandwidth.



Search for the more common name of Unified Display Interface





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Display_Interface

vinea

Ugh...another insecure physical connector. One issue with HDMI is that the cable can pull out of some display devices. Some vid cables can be pretty heavy and this thing coupled with a UDI to DVI dongle seems like one of those candidates.



Vinea

technogab

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinea


Ugh...another insecure physical connector. One issue with HDMI is that the cable can pull out of some display devices. Some vid cables can be pretty heavy and this thing coupled with a UDI to DVI dongle seems like one of those candidates.



Vinea

I agree, but I think an HDMI connector plugged directly into the Mac would be more secure. I currently have the mini DVI-DVI connector to hook my Macbook up to my HDTV. And although it works great, I hate having the heavy DVI cable connected to a mini-dvi dongle connected to the Macbook. I would rather have an HDMI cable plug directly into the Mac, but I guess it depends on the situation, I just like to eliminate adapters in general.

ibuzz

I'm still trying to figure out a way to input my HD signal from satellite to my iMac so I can watch HD stuff. Why should I have to buy two dislpays that can resolve HD? If apple could pull that one off they would sell a ton of the iMacs as this baby could double for an HDTV. 8)

vinea

Yah, its a shame that the iMacs don't have DVI and component ins.



Vinea

ibuzz

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinea


Yah, its a shame that the iMacs don't have DVI and component ins.



Vinea

If apple wants to be the digital hub, they are going to have to have inputs, not just outputs. Even, the iTV is no help. You can only display what is already in the computer. Online TV is years behind what is available on cable and Satellite. How many people are going to be willing to watch 640x480 on the 48 inch plasma.

galley

If the 23-inch Cinema Display had one HDMI and one Component input, I would buy one tomorrow.